Japanese otaku lifehack shows how to bring sexy anime characters to life

Character-loving anime geeks were blown away by a new discovery recently that brings the fantasy of having a sexy anime girlfriend one step closer to the real world. Demonstrated by Twitter user @celestion4311, the incredibly simple lifehack involves just two items: a long dakimakura “hug pillow” cover emblazoned with the image of your favourite anime star, and a thin, tall speaker. It might sound like a basic setup, but to see how effective it is at bringing life to a coquettish, wide-eyed character, take a look at the short clip below.

The character pictured in the clip is Shinku Nikaidou, a caring schoolgirl who stars in the visual novels Irotoridori no Sekai and Irotoridori no Hikari. The audio track brings her to life with loving comments like: “I think you had a nightmare – are you okay?”; “What happened?”; and “Are you alright?”

Since posting the clip, it’s received thousands of likes and retweets, with the first response by a fellow user expressing praise for the trick with a GIF showing a star-studded audience rising to their feet in loud applause.

“This is too wonderful” “You are a genius!”“When you look at her up close while listening to the audio, it really does look like she’s talking”“Brilliant execution of a fantastic concept” “This is an invention for today’s era!”

After receiving such glowing praise from the community, @celestion4311 simply says he’s surprised no-one has thought to do this before. A lot of people were impressed with the anime lover’s room, too, and the clear quality of the audio setup, which @celestion4311 says cost roughly 1,000,000 yen (US$9,942).

In the midst of all the admiration, though, one Twitter user did point out a major drawback to using the pillow cover over a speaker, saying “But in the end, you can’t cuddle her!” We can see how those hard edges would detract from a squishy cuddle with your anime crush, which can only mean one thing – it’s time for someone to invent an audio-equipped anime hug pillow!